Insight into Lives of Mon IDPs in Halockhani, Southeast Burma

These images are from Halockhani internally displaced person (IDP) village in southeast Burma, adjacent to Sangkhlaburi in Thailand’s Kanchanaburi Province.

All images are copyright by Burma Link.

Click on any image to open a slideshow.

See below for more information about the village, and read the article on The Irrawaddy about these IDPs’ concerns, authored by Ariana Zarleen, a co-founder of Burma Link.

: Street view of Halockhani.

: Thousands of ethnic Mon IDPs were among those unable to vote in 2015 elections. (Photo: Burma Link)

: Mon pupils in a village schools.

: Mi Sanda Moe, 43, making brooms with her two children in Halockhani IDP camp.

: Mon woman arranging leaves to dry for brooms.

: The area around Halockhani IDP village is surrounded by lush mountain tops and natural scenery.

: View from one of the walking bridges.

: Inside one of the rooms in Halockhani hospital.

: Inside the collapsing hospital in Halockhani.

: Inside the monastery.

: Village committee members and discuss with visititing monk and medic the plans to rebuild the hospital.

: Man making sticky rice on the street.

: Mon traditional dancers.

: Visiting monk and village committee member discuss plans to rebuild the hospital.

: Young girl walking on the streets of Halockhani, Mon IDP village.

: Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA) soldiers arrive in the IDP village.

: Villagers working.

: Woman walking near the village monastery.

: Man collecting leaves for floor brooms on the mountains near Halockhani.

: Set up of plastic bottles and rope to use a phone.

: Walking down the hill from the Halockhani monastery.

: Mi Thin Nyant, 76, and her son Nai Win Halyit, 40, who has had polio since he was four years old, are both unable to work and need to be supported by their family.

: Making brooms on the street.

: Family making floor brooms.

About Halockhani

Halockhani is a Mon IDP village in southeast Burma, located only one kilometer from the Thai border and the refugee camp Ban Don Yang. There are over 1,000 villagers in Halockhani, according to the village chief Nai Chit Toe. Most of them, as well as the thousands of other IDPs in the area, have fled armed conflict between the Mon and the Burmese military in Three Pagodas Pass, which marks the border with Thailand.

Three Pagodas Pass was controlled by the Mon and Karen until Burmese military occupied it in 1989-90 when thousands of Mon escaped to the Thai side of the border. The refugee village came to be known as Halockhani. In the beginning of 1994, Thai authorities forcibly relocated the villagers to the Burma side of the border, where they have now lived for over 20 years.

Villagers’ main concerns are lack of aid and the collapsing clinic. According to Mi Rot Htaw, one of the Mon medics in Halockhani, things are much better in other areas such as Kawkareik, Karen State, where she used to work. “In Kawkareik we have a lot of medicine, pills and injections, everything. But here, it is not enough. We don’t have enough medicine.”

Read more about Halockhani on The Irrawaddy, authored by Ariana Zarleen, co-founder of Burma Link – Mon IDPs Concerned about Lack of Aid in Halockhani.